Saturday's letters

Published: Saturday, February 16, 2013 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, February 15, 2013 at 7:12 p.m.

International mystery

I am a Canadian. Maybe the Sarasota police will not charge me for driving without a license but what of the state police on the drive home, which is the only place I can get my International Driver's License? And what happens if I am involved in an accident?

Surely, if the state legislators who passed this requirement for an International Driver's License are totally unaware of the effect this would have on Florida's tourism, staff should have picked it up. Or lawyers? It also appears to breach the Geneva Convention.

If I was a Floridian I would be pretty angry at people drawing pay and spouting "Jobs First" and then doing their jobs in such a counterproductive and incompetent way.

I have searched the web to find who passed this but could find nothing but the story from Canada. I hope the Herald-Tribune can do better and will let your readers know who was responsible for proposing and passing this.

Gaye Doolittle

Sarasota/Toronto

Canadians have it easy

So, our Canadians neighbors are being required to obtain an International Driver's License before being allowed to drive on Florida roads. I can certainly appreciate the outrage. After all, the permit application requires a Canadian to spend $25 Canadian and provide a copy of his or her driver's license and two passport-sized photos.

On the other hand, things could be worse. They could be a U.S. citizen. To simply renew my existing license I must supply a government-issued birth certificate, valid U.S. passport or naturalization papers. Further, I must provide a Social Security card, W-2 form, paycheck or SSA-1099 (no copies accepted). I must also submit two documents showing my residential address (bills must be less than 60 days old). Last but not least, I am required to pass a vision test and may be required to also pass a written and/or road skills test.

Finally, unlike with the International Driver's License, Florida police have not agreed to waive enforcement of my requirement.

I congratulate my Canadian neighbors. When they see their liberties being taken away, it appears they fight back. We Americans seem increasingly content to simply roll over.

Rich Carlsen

Osprey

Rudolph building's value

I deeply appreciate the Sarasota County School Board's commitment to educating our children, an endeavor that I have also engaged in by my participation in the creation of Sarasota School of Arts and Sciences. I also appreciate the board's commitment to preserving the Sarasota High School Rudolph classroom addition. But it distresses me that there does not appear to be an appreciation on the School Board's part of what exactly this building means to Sarasota.

The Rudolph addition is without question the most important architecture, or art, created in Sarasota. At this time, it is our only internationally recognized building.

What claim do we have to be an art-loving community if we savage its guts? By what right do we instruct our children in the arts if we eviscerate our greatest achievement?

The Rudolph addition was created by the School Board's predecessors in a period of extraordinary enlightenment as to the role that art and fine architecture could play in the development of our youth, and yet we've witnessed years of pedestrian school buildings erected since that time.

Let's save in its entirety a building which is both an internationally recognized masterpiece of architecture and a monument to a period in Sarasota's history when our School Board's goals transcended the pedestrian.

Bill Hartman

Sarasota High, Class of 1965

Sarasota

Education is the priority

Recent articles and columns by the Herald-Tribune's Harold Bubil clearly support the position of the Sarasota Architectural Foundation and do not represent the view of the parents, students and teachers at Sarasota High School. I believe that the priorities of the Sarasota County School Board and the general public are not represented by this skewed version of the issues.

My family attended the design meetings last summer, along with many members of the SAF. The process was very transparent, with all parties given equal opportunities to state their positions and opinions. It was clear that a compromise was reached regarding renovation of Building 4. The exterior was to be rehabilitated to reflect Paul Rudolph's vision and the interior was to be renovated and brought into code compliance to provide a 21st century science lab and STEM learning environment.

I was surprised to learn SAF members appeared before the School Board to pressure it to restore the interior to the original configuration. This was discussed and agreed upon at the charette: The original design impedes modern teaching methods.

It has become obvious to me that those who oppose the interior reconstruction are far more concerned with preservation than education. Education dollars are not historic preservation dollars.

If the SAF wants to fully restore the building including the interior -- at the expense of our children's educational opportunities -- let it raise the money and purchase the building as was the process for the original red-brick SHS building.

Joe Shea

Sarasota

Rubio should back Hagel

I hope that Sen. Marco Rubio will help to end the Republican filibuster against the Chuck Hagel nomination. The president is the commander in chief under the Constitution, which Republicans claim to respect, and we cannot risk uncertain leadership in the Department of Defense at this perilous time in international affairs.

Senator Rubio is apparently the for the Republican party and he should take the lead.

<p>International mystery</p><p>I am a Canadian. Maybe the Sarasota police will not charge me for driving without a license but what of the state police on the drive home, which is the only place I can get my International Driver's License? And what happens if I am involved in an accident?</p><p>Surely, if the state legislators who passed this requirement for an International Driver's License are totally unaware of the effect this would have on Florida's tourism, staff should have picked it up. Or lawyers? It also appears to breach the Geneva Convention.</p><p>If I was a Floridian I would be pretty angry at people drawing pay and spouting "Jobs First" and then doing their jobs in such a counterproductive and incompetent way.</p><p>I have searched the web to find who passed this but could find nothing but the story from Canada. I hope the Herald-Tribune can do better and will let your readers know who was responsible for proposing and passing this.</p><p>Gaye Doolittle</p><p>Sarasota/Toronto</p><p>Canadians have it easy</p><p>So, our Canadians neighbors are being required to obtain an International Driver's License before being allowed to drive on Florida roads. I can certainly appreciate the outrage. After all, the permit application requires a Canadian to spend $25 Canadian and provide a copy of his or her driver's license and two passport-sized photos.</p><p>On the other hand, things could be worse. They could be a U.S. citizen. To simply renew my existing license I must supply a government-issued birth certificate, valid U.S. passport or naturalization papers. Further, I must provide a Social Security card, W-2 form, paycheck or SSA-1099 (no copies accepted). I must also submit two documents showing my residential address (bills must be less than 60 days old). Last but not least, I am required to pass a vision test and may be required to also pass a written and/or road skills test.</p><p>Finally, unlike with the International Driver's License, Florida police have not agreed to waive enforcement of my requirement.</p><p>I congratulate my Canadian neighbors. When they see their liberties being taken away, it appears they fight back. We Americans seem increasingly content to simply roll over.</p><p>Rich Carlsen</p><p>Osprey</p><p>Rudolph building's value</p><p>I deeply appreciate the Sarasota County School Board's commitment to educating our children, an endeavor that I have also engaged in by my participation in the creation of Sarasota School of Arts and Sciences. I also appreciate the board's commitment to preserving the Sarasota High School Rudolph classroom addition. But it distresses me that there does not appear to be an appreciation on the School Board's part of what exactly this building means to Sarasota.</p><p>The Rudolph addition is without question the most important architecture, or art, created in Sarasota. At this time, it is our only internationally recognized building.</p><p>What claim do we have to be an art-loving community if we savage its guts? By what right do we instruct our children in the arts if we eviscerate our greatest achievement?</p><p>The Rudolph addition was created by the School Board's predecessors in a period of extraordinary enlightenment as to the role that art and fine architecture could play in the development of our youth, and yet we've witnessed years of pedestrian school buildings erected since that time.</p><p>Let's save in its entirety a building which is both an internationally recognized masterpiece of architecture and a monument to a period in Sarasota's history when our School Board's goals transcended the pedestrian.</p><p>Bill Hartman</p><p>Sarasota High, Class of 1965</p><p>Sarasota</p><p>Education is the priority</p><p>Recent articles and columns by the Herald-Tribune's Harold Bubil clearly support the position of the Sarasota Architectural Foundation and do not represent the view of the parents, students and teachers at Sarasota High School. I believe that the priorities of the Sarasota County School Board and the general public are not represented by this skewed version of the issues.</p><p>My family attended the design meetings last summer, along with many members of the SAF. The process was very transparent, with all parties given equal opportunities to state their positions and opinions. It was clear that a compromise was reached regarding renovation of Building 4. The exterior was to be rehabilitated to reflect Paul Rudolph's vision and the interior was to be renovated and brought into code compliance to provide a 21st century science lab and STEM learning environment.</p><p>I was surprised to learn SAF members appeared before the School Board to pressure it to restore the interior to the original configuration. This was discussed and agreed upon at the charette: The original design impedes modern teaching methods.</p><p>It has become obvious to me that those who oppose the interior reconstruction are far more concerned with preservation than education. Education dollars are not historic preservation dollars.</p><p>If the SAF wants to fully restore the building including the interior -- at the expense of our children's educational opportunities -- let it raise the money and purchase the building as was the process for the original red-brick SHS building.</p><p>Joe Shea</p><p>Sarasota</p><p>Rubio should back Hagel</p><p>I hope that Sen. Marco Rubio will help to end the Republican filibuster against the Chuck Hagel nomination. The president is the commander in chief under the Constitution, which Republicans claim to respect, and we cannot risk uncertain leadership in the Department of Defense at this perilous time in international affairs.</p><p>Senator Rubio is apparently the for the Republican party and he should take the lead.</p><p>Bill Cotter</p><p>Longboat Key</p>